Published in 'Images' [Dawn]
12th August 2007
By Fariha Rashed
Well organized premiers of privately produced tele-films are a rarity in Pakistan. Imran Malik, an aspiring Director based in Lahore, recently took the brave step of premiering his film ‘Justaju Jiss Kee Thee’ for a selected audience at Sozo Gold located at Fortress Stadium, Lahore. Imran’s decision not to hand his film over to any one channel before its official release to the public was commendable. The decision went in his favor. Imran has now been offered
the opportunity to premier his film at the headquarters of various large national and international companies. Publicity and promotion of his film will be better accomplished by the holding of small, yet meaningful viewings of his film for select targeted groups of influential people.Imran Malik is no stranger to the world of film making. Having done his Video Production from NCA in 2004, he moved on to making a short film called ‘Bushra Kahan Hai’ in 2005. The film was well received and covered in various leading dailies. After completing his Film Making from the New York Film Academy in 2006, Imran made a short film called ‘Last Kiss’ as his final project at NYFA. He received the second position among a total of 18 projects. In 2002 Imran has also tried his hand quite successfully, at directing a music video for Ibrar-Ul-Haq’s song ‘Teray Rang Rang’.
Imran found himself in a fix when trying to decide what to title his latest tele-film. However, after analyzing the essence of the story which revolves around every human being’s search for their destiny in this world, Imran felt that ‘Justaju Jiss Kee Thee’ was apt. “It is a powerful and brave social drama, which highlights the frustrations of our youth, represented in the film by three friends belonging to a lower income bracket, and their ‘justiju’ to achieve their dreams”, explains Imran. Unfortunately, as seen in the film, the three friends’ biggest goal in life is to attain money in whatever way necessary, even if it means coning others. This eventually leads to a sacrifice of friendship among the three and the death of one of them. On the other hand, Sakina [played by Myra Khan], a beautiful girl also living in the three friends’ neighborhood, and striving to achieve the same destiny as them, fulfils her ‘justiju’ of becoming rich. However, she does this at the cost of her self-respect as a woman.
Imran, who has a very Stanley Kubrick come Satya Jeet Ray style of directing, has tried to show a true ‘mohalla’ friendship between three youngsters, living in a lower middle class area of Lahore. He very realistically manages to represent the boys’ leisure time, their sexual issues, their needs, and how their immature minds can sway towards violence. While studying film making in New York last year, Imran felt that most Americans have a wrong image of Pakistan. With regard to the Danish cartoons printed in the papers, he feels that the Americans viewed the consequential Lahore protest based riots to be the work of Muslim fanatics. Through ‘Justaju Jiss Kee Thee’ which touched upon this issue, Imran wanted to give a message that poverty and desperation exist everywhere in the world, and should not be linked to Islam. “I couldn’t give this message directly so I knitted it in with a story showing people’s miseries which often turn them violent”, explains Imran. He believes strongly that someone has to show the true face of our society and although some of the issues he has highlighted in the film may be taboos for the vast majority, Imran sees it as his responsibility as a Director to speak out about them through his work. “I want to give a message to the decision makers of Pakistan to please do something to help the masses instead of always trying to exploit them”, states Imran. As shown in the film, youngsters who can’t talk about their problems in a society like ours, or get counseling of any kind, eventually end up making mischief in the backseats of rickshaws, in cubicles of net cafes, and the dark corners of their homes. According to Imran, all these activities amalgamate to become the dark corners of their lives instead.
It took Imran almost three months to complete the film, including pre-production and post production. He spent almost two months writing the script – two weeks on character development, two weeks on dialogues and a full month on the screenplay. To research for the film, Imran personally visited the lower middle class areas of Lahore many times in order to get a real feel for the lives of the people living there. He also visited net cafes and auto garage workshops. One of the three friends in the film, Shoki [played by Atta Ullah], works as a mechanic in an auto workshop. Another, Ali [played by Ali Zain] owns a net café. Imran also had long sessions with real motor mechanics and the lads owning net cafes. It helped the director immensely in understanding the characters he created for the film.
Lahore was chosen as the right place for the premier because the film’s events are based in the city. The premier was a success evidenced by the fact that the movie hall was jam-packed. One saw celebrities such as Sarmad Khoosat sitting in the front row. Most people liked the theme of the film, while others appreciated the treatment adopted, as well as lighting. A few had mixed reviews on the performance of the cast as some liked them and others didn’t. Acting done by Myra Khan and Ali Zain in particular was good. Their facial expressions and body language were in sync with their dialogues. They also succeeded in showing the emotion needed for various scenes in the film. Background music was not jarring and coincided well with the film. Camera work was innovative and not run-of-the-mill. The shot angles were paid a lot of attention to and rendered the film visually pleasing. Close-up shots of character’s faces are the hardest to achieve, yet they were nicely done.
While choosing a perfect cast for the film, Imran initially contacted senior people of the industry but did not receive a positive response. Imran eventually decided to cast a whole new lot of fresh talent. He advertised in various institutions for auditions and ended up choosing from among a 100 people. The majority of the cast members are from BNU and the senior cast members were referred to Imran by Mr. Shaukat Zain-ul-Abaideen.
One of the strongest points of the film has to be how it very realistically represents Pakistani culture, society and the mentality of the majority of our people. It also manages to highlight the many problems we have, forcing anyone who watches the movie to relate to the characters and contemplate. Imran has boldly touched upon quite a few topics related to youth intimacy. He acknowledges that it was a risk to do so but he also feels that it is important to accept that they exist and are a very real part of our society. Most of the frustrations inherent result from these issues and denying their existence. A premier to be held in Karachi is on the agenda next. Imran is also sending the film in to different international festivals – Vancouver Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, New York Film Festival, TriBeCa Film Festival, London Film Festival, Calcutta Film Festival, India Film Festival and Venice Film Festival. Imran also plans to have the film air on a leading satellite channel. A deal is in process. The film will also run on the channel’s USA, Canada and UK beams. Imran’s next project is a film based on a working woman – a Creative Director of an Ad Agency.
Cast & Crew
Written & Directed by: Imran A. Malik
Story & Screenplay: Imran A. Malik
D.O.P: Shabahat Qamar
Edited By: Yasir Rohaila
Asst. Directors: Akhyar Ahmed, Jalal-u-Din Babar
Production Manager: Akhyar Ahmed
Lighting: Imran A. Malik, Shabahat Qamar
Background Music Selection: Imran A. Malik
Ali: played by Ali Zain
Sajjad/Saju: played by Hamad Shah
Shaukat/Shoki: played by Atta Ullah
Sakina: played by Myra Khan
Sahil: played by Fawad Shah
Sughran: played by Razia Malik
Humera: played by Abida
Shakeela: played by Shabana Bhatti
Perveen: played by Fazeelat
Policeman: played by Ali.
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